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I slid my hand against his palm. “Let’s get this over with, because clearly she isn’t going to stop until I do.”
He helped me to my feet. “First things’ first, I want you to close your eyes and picture your wolf.”
“I don’t know what my wolf looks like.”
Dean stepped behind me, his body heat shivering up my spine. “Just picture a wolf, trust me. It’ll tailor itself to the image you need.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Raven,” Brody said curtly, “let them help and hush.”
I shot him a look. “You only get that privilege once, understood?”
He nodded. “Yes, alpha.”
Hearing him call me that stoked something within me. A fire that started at my toes slowly crept up my legs, and as I closed my eyes, I didn’t even need to conjure a wolf. Automatically, an image appeared. An image of a whiskey-colored wolf with shining emerald eyes and glistening sharp white teeth popped up to the forefront of my mind. I turned it around in my head, studying it from every angle. I took stock of its long, stern legs. The coat of fur the wolf had twinkled in the starlight. The strength of its muscles alone left me breathless, and for the smallest of moments I wondered if that was my wolf.
I wondered if that was what I’d look like after shifting.
You’ve got this, and I’ve got you.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Dean chuckled. “We haven’t done anything yet.”
I shook my head. “Wasn’t talking to you.”
Levi squeezed my hand. “Perfect. Now, let the wolf walk closer to you.”
“Then, what?”
“Then,” Dean said as he rubbed my back, “let the wolf become you.”
“That doesn’t seem—”
“Stop trying to sink yourself before you swim. Not everything in life is terrible,” Hudson said. “Trust yourself, Raven.”
I curled my toes into my shoes, trying to root myself to the floor. The fear that overcame me as my wolf looked me dead in my eyes rattled my skeleton but watching as my wolf slowly approached me made me back up.
“It’s okay,” Levi whispered, “just stay here with us.”
“I can’t do this. It won’t be me,” I said breathlessly.
Dean’s lips found the shell of my ear. “You’ll still be you. You’ll just have a different body.”
I’ll protect you, always. Just let me do this.
With a deep breath in through my nose, I released myself of the chains that had been holding me back. I tossed my strength off to the side as the wolf that had dawned upon my conscious mind charged me and opened his gaping jaw for my head. I gasped, feeling an overwhelming buzzing sort of strength take over. And as my head fell back, Levi tightened his grasp on my hand.
As Dean caught my body against his.
“There she is. Let it happen!” Hudson exclaimed.
Oh, yes. Finally, I’m free.
“Oh—God,” I choked out.
Colors burst behind my eyelids and the wolf within my mind disappeared. A growl so heavy and so weighted that it took me to all fours settled in my chest, and the tearing of clothes ricocheted throughout my ears. Stitches popped and fabric shred. Smells I’d never once experienced before wafted up my nostrils. I heard birds chirping in the trees and cars honking off in the distance. Saliva filled my mouth as an elk walking by snapped my head to the left.
